USS Essex Log Book 41

Finding Aid

Adams class ship USS Essex (IX-10) was designed and constructed by premier North American shipwright Donald McKay. Her keel was laid down in 1874 and she was launched in 1876. She was a three-decked wooden screw steamer sloop-of-war with auxiliary sail (bark-rigged). She was 185 feet long, 35 feet in the beam, had a 14.25-foot draft, and was 1,375 tons. When commissioned, she carried six big guns, all muzzle loaders: one XI-inch and four IX-inch Dahlgren Naval Artillery guns, and one 60-pound Parrott Rifle The ship’s armory carried dozens of small arms including rifles, pistols, revolvers, and cutlasses. Further, she carried a six auxiliary boats including a launch, two cutters, a whale boat, one gig, and a dinghy. The combinations of guns and watercraft carried on board USS Essex could change from log book to log book. She served with the US Navy in active duty and as a training ship with the Ohio Naval Militia, the Illinois Naval Militia, and the Minnesota Naval Militia. She was intentionally burned on Minnesota Point in Lake Superior at Duluth in 1931. Her Minnesota Archaeological Site Number is 21-SL-1030 and she is a National Register of Historic Places Property.

Maritime Heritage Minnesota digitized the 62 known USS Essex log books held at the National Archives in Washington, DC, and at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis in 2010. The log books consist of the daily activities on board the Essex as recorded by deck officers on duty. Those deck notes were then transcribed to be the official log of the Essex that were sent to the Navy Department in Washington, DC, where they were bound into their current book form. At the beginning of most log books, there are: a title page, two list of officers pages, a crew complement page (listing the crew by rank and job), an armaments page (list of the different large guns, boats, and small arms), and two pages of compass observations. Not all log books contain these pages and some include additional information, including a plan and section of the Essex in Log Books 8 and 9 and four pages of directions on how to fill out log pages in Log Book 21. Sometimes two transcribed versions of log pages were sent to the Navy Department and duplicate books were produced. However, sometimes the duplicate books were not bound with exactly the same pages, so some books overlap each other in date. Also, some log book pages have writing too close to its spine edge and after binding, some words and numbers were ‘lost’ in the spine if the binding remained tight over the decades. Further, it must be kept in mind that the names of ships, both American and foreign, as well as geographical locations usually expressed in different languages will have variations in spelling. With this in mind, the deck officers of the Essex, when writing the log pages, may misunderstand what the actual name of a ship or geographical marker actually is and their handwriting may present challenges or be nearly illegible. The editing of this log book and the creation of the finding aid was made possible by a generous donation from MHM friend and supporter Dr. Natalie Rosen.

Log Book 41 of the USS Essex: February 1, 1898-April 6, 1898

The National Archives houses USS Essex Log Book 41. Throughout Log Book 41, comments were made on:

• sail adjustments with sail type and action specified
• banking of boiler fires in order to put the ship on stand-by for immediate use
• coupling and uncoupling the propellor when the ship was shifting from steam to sail and vice-versa
• when under steam the different watches record the average steam boiler pressure and engine revolutions; sometimes specific boiler are mentioned by their letter designation
• lowering of smokestack and proceeded under sail and vice-versa when the Essex was underway
• when anchored nearly every watch described the state of the anchor cables: crossed (‘cross in hawse, stbd chain on top’ or ‘Elbow in hawse’) and often will mention ‘clearing the hawse’ (the crossed anchor cables were uncrossed)
• casting deep sea lead for soundings
• swinging the ship to test for compass deviation
• patent log readings
• water distillation using the ship’s boilers to produce freshwater and refilling the freshwater tanks
• coaling of the ship
• discharging ashes onto a lighter
• weather recording: temperature, wind speed and direction, barometer readings, state of the sea
• recording the ship’s behavior (heavy rolling or pitching)
• testing flood cocks in magazine and gun rooms
• testing of all electrical apparatus
• crew conducting ship maintenance: engine maintenance/repair, boiler maintenance/repair, coal bunker maintenance/repair, general ship cleaning, bilge cleaning and checking pumps, scraping and painting - and sometimes tarring and caulking - the ship’s hull and infrastructure, caulking the decks, iron work maintenance/repair, rigging repair/replacement, tarring down rigging, airing of rigging, repairing stays, repairing yards and booms, loosed sails to dry, repairing sails, replacing sails, scraping and slushing spars, scrubbing masts and yards, repairing masts, hawser (mooring lines) maintenance/repair/replacement, condenser bed timber repair/replacement, engine bed timber repair/replacement, steam cutter maintenance/repair, steam/sail launch maintenance/repair, gig maintenance/repair, dinghy maintenance/repair, whale boat maintenance/repair, turned and cleaned hammocks and bedding, painting hammock netting panels, scraping and blacking boat davits, repaired ground tackle, repaired sounding apparatus, scraping out smokepipe, inspected cotton primers, repairing binnacles, repairing waste pipes of magazine and shell room, repairing rail, repaired skylights, repaired awning stanchions, awning repair/replacement, repairing air ports, repairing gun ports, repairing water closets, gun carriage/battery maintenance/repair
• crew conducting drills: furling and unfurling sails, target practice with the main battery (great guns), target practice with the air gun, floating target practice, boat drills - all hands called to arms and away all boats for naval tactics under sail and oars, on shore target practice, general quarters drills, small arms drills, fire drills, single stick drills, revolver drills, torpedo drills, passing powder drills, fuze drills, abandon ship drills, man overboard drills, Gatling gun drills, howitzer drills, skirmishing, battalion drills, machine gun drills, pistol drills, rifle drills, bayonet drills, target practice with targeting hanging from a yardarm, Morse signal drills, landing party drills, navigation drills, man overboard drills, signaling with the flagship, Army and Navy signaling drills, watch signal drills, international signal drills, basic medical training (tourniquets, resuscitation), Marine Guard drill
• Marine Guard drills in the cutter
• cadet/apprentice drills: signaling drills, wig-wag signaling drills
• receiving fresh water from shore through pumps or lighter
• receiving provisions and stores: food, medical supplies, clothing, engineering gear, construction
• Quarterly Board of Survey’s findings of condemned articles on board (food, equipment) and their fate (food was usually tossed overboard) from the inventories of the different ship’s departments (Ordnance, Engineering, Navigation, Equipment, Medical, Pay)
• crew promotions
• crew quarters inspection
• liberty parties sent ashore
• crew members are discharged at their own request (DOR)
• lists of new crew members - recruits or transfers from other ships- taken on board during a cruise
• crew transfers to other ships
• crew reporting the expiration of their contracted naval service
• crew members in solitary confinement or other punishments for various infractions, AWOL crew, general and summary court martial proceedings, AWOL crew put in irons
• rewards offered for the return of AWOL crewmen
• weekly Sunday services; after the services, once a month, the Articles for Better Government of the Navy were read to the crew

NOTE: The Essex deck officers who recorded the daily happenings on the ship often translated the names of non-American ships incorrectly. MHM determined the correct spellings of the ships and those corrections are reflected in the Finding Aid, not the poorly transliterated ship names.

At the beginning of Log Book 41, on February 1, 1898, the USS Essex was docked at the Port Royal Naval Station in South Carolina. For the first 22 days of the month, the ship, her crew, and her apprentices went into and out of the port, conducting exercises including target practice with boats, moving target practice, small arms, sail and rig handling, and the ship was provisioned and coaled. On February 4, USS Foote left Port Royal and in joint target practice exercises, USS Amphitrite - using signals - asked for the height of her main truck from the water line. On February 17, along with USS Amphitrite, Essex half-masted her colors in a show of mourning for the USS Maine disaster in Havana Harbor, Cuba. On February 22, the crew dressed Essex in rainbow fashion in honor of Washington's Birthday, and she fired a 21-gun salute at noon. On February 23, Essex got up steam and headed down river, exchanged signals with Amphitrite, and went to sea. Once clear of the harbor, the next day her crew uncoupled the propellor and she went on under sail, exchanging colors with an Austrian steamer. On February 25, Essex headed into Chesapeake Bay and anchored near the Thimble Shoal Lightship. The next day, Essex exchanged signals with USS Terror and proceeded into Hampton Roads. On February 28, Commander Dickens boarded USS Essex to inspect the ship and crew as a representative of the Bureau of Navigation. The exercises included: crew at Fire Quarters, clearing ship for action, General Quarters, Arm and Away Boats, Abandon Ship, single sticks, pistols drill, hammock inspections, sail drills, and sending down light yards.

On March 1, the CO visited Fort Monroe, and over the next 2 days, crewmen transferred to USRS Richmond, the Washington Navy Yard, USRS Franklin, and the ship's boats were secured. Essex left Hampton Roads on March 5, passed Hog Island Lighthouse, Sandy Hook Light, and 2 days later, she anchored off Tompkinsville, NY, and signaled/exchanged visits with USS Terror. Over the next week, apprentices were transferred to USRS Vermont, provisions were received for the Construction and Engineering Departments, and the coal lighter Lucy Gildersleeve coaled the ship. Ensign G.W. Williamson detached and ordered to USS Columbia as their watch and division officer. On March 13, Essex steamed out of New York Harbor, traveled through Nantucket Sound 2 days later, and the next morning she passed Fort Constitution, New Hampshire before mooring at the Portsmouth Navy Yard dock. For the remainder of March, the crew set about closing down the ship, and the Board of Survey inspected the ship and provisions. On March 19, Commander Edward T. Strong was relieved of command by Commander Richard Rush. The next day, Commander Rush inspected the crew and ship. On March 22, the belongings of 3 deserters were auctioned off and 2 days later, another deserter's articles were auctioned as well, and fetched 80 cents. During the last 6 days of March, crewmen were sent to the hospital and USRS Vermont, Essex received crew from USS Michigan, more auctions were held, and yard workmen were bus on the ship.

In April, squally weather was recorded in the log, the CO inspected Essex and her crew, and he left the ship for Naval Militia duties. The hammocks were inspected, Essex's remaining ammunition was ferried to the Portsmouth Navy Yard magazine, and yard workers were busy on board. On the last day of the log, April 6, the sentence of a formerly court-martialed crewman was reduced, crew were transferred to USRS Wabash in Boston, and USS Essex was decommissioned.

Tags:

sloop-of-war USS Essex, USS Amphitrite, USS Maine, USS Foote, USS Terror, USRS Richmond, USRS Franklin, USRS Vermont, coal lighter Lucy Gildersleeve, USS Columbia, USS Michigan, USRS Wabash, Port Royal, South Carolina, Hampton Roads, Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire, apprentice training, ship drills, ship maintenance, steam, sail, Donald McKay

In Copyright. This work is copyrighted to Ann Merriman, Christopher Olson, and Maritime Heritage Minnesota. It cannot be duplicated, altered, or hosted online by an unauthorized third party. It cannot be sold for a profit or used to make a profit by any unauthorized third party and no commercial use is allowed. It can be used as a scholarly resource with proper citation to Ann Merriman, Christopher Olson, and Maritime Heritage Minnesota.

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